Delia D'Ambra

Anyway, in addition to police processing the victim's cars for clues, detectives also interviewed about a dozen or so witnesses who'd seen parts of the incident unfold.

The initial description of the shooter those folks provided was that he was a clean-shaven, slender, white male with wavy, dark-colored hair.

He was between 30 and 40 years old, weighed about 160 pounds, and stood roughly six feet tall.

He was also seen wearing white shorts and a white short-sleeved shirt.

He'd been spotted leaving the Foodway crime scene in either a late 70s or new model Chrysler Cordoba or a Ford LTD.

His vehicle reportedly had either a tan or light-colored vinyl body and a dark-colored top or rusty brown body or tan vinyl top.

Between all the witness accounts, it seems there were some discrepancies on the make, model, and color details of the suspect's vehicle, which is really unfortunate.

But all that aside, naturally the one person police really wanted to speak with as soon as possible was Raymond Barrows, the sole survivor of the attack.

So on Saturday, August 2nd, they visited him at the hospital to get an interview.

According to news coverage, archive audio of Raymond's interview with police and my interview with his daughter, Annie, his account of what happened went like this.

As he, Juan, and the boys were leaving the gravel parking lot at the boat ramp, a man pushing a bicycle approached their station wagon and asked for a ride to some nearby apartments.

Apparently, where the guy wanted to go was very close to the boat ramp, but he explained that he'd injured his ankle while riding his bike and he couldn't make it there unless he got a ride from someone.

Annie told me that her dad said the apartments the guy wanted to go to were less than a quarter mile from the boat ramp, and you could actually see the buildings from the ramp's parking lot.

So she believes that's why, despite her Uncle Juan normally not being the kind of person who would pick up hitchhikers, decided to do so in this instance.

Annie explained that she thinks because her uncle was a physician by trade, he probably felt more inclined to help the stranger since the guy claimed he had an injured ankle.

Also, Juan's eldest son, who was also named Juan, was an avid cyclist at the time.

So it seems that perhaps for those reasons, plus the fact that the area was busy with activity and visitors, Juan felt more comfortable letting the guy with the bike and the bum ankle into the family's car.

Anyway, right before leaving the boat ramp, Raymond said that he and Juan placed the hitchhiker's bike into the boat and then directed the guy to slide into the backseat of the station wagon next to Eric and Mark.

Raymond remained in the front passenger seat and Juan got behind the steering wheel.

Then the group pulled onto Manatee Avenue.